Exhale
by audi katia
Summary: I can hear you breathing.


**Author's Note:** Please read this with an open mind. It's a bit of a creepy plot, and if that bothers you, then don't read. It's a **one-shot**, and I will most likely not update. This is inspired by **Vladimir Nabokov's _Lolita_**. Beautiful, beautiful novel. Please read if you ever get the chance.

* * *

"**It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight."**

**-Vladimir Nabokov, _Lolita_**

I used to be a program. Destroy Project Carthage. Disrupt enemy communications. Everything was simple. Calculations. Math. Black. White.

The whir of electricity was enough for me. It kept me moving. I thought it kept me alive. All the tintinnabulation of technology made my circuits move.

All it takes is a shift. An infinitesimal shift. And everything has changed.

I can feel intruders to my program. Alien files. I assess them as something virtualizes onto my sector.

Two databases, but only one physical form. You are a handful of pixels. A strange combination I have never seen before. Your form is so small, so slight.

My database tells me you are a pixie. Noun. A fairylike or elfin creature, especially one that is mischievous; a playful sprite.

Little pixie, you are all alone. And you know it.

You look around, what frightened eyes. You see one of my creatures, and you run. A blur of pink and ivory. You don't realize it, but I guide you to a tower. The most enchanting whoosh of music surrounds you as you enter. It's like a sigh.

I am so curious. So desperately curious. I shut down your vitals, and you fall cataleptic.

My curiosity burns. Now I understand… Calculations did not keep me alive. No, it only sustained me. You, pixie, are awakening me.

* * *

Years pass in silence. I check on you in your unconscious form. At first, you were so fitful. Tossing, turning. I could hear you call out the name of your father. My maker.

Little pixie, if I could bring him to you, I would. But all the programming and all the calculations in the world can't pull him from the digital sea. I can't reunite you.

Instead, I erase your memory. You are in the database. It's not hard to wipe out memory. Never again do you have to know your loss. Life is reborn for you. All of a sudden, you're still. The tossing and turning has ended.

You don't know that time is passing. You don't know your life.

Do you know you're immobile? Your tiny body hasn't moved at all. You look safe, and I will always keep you safe.

* * *

Again, I feel an intrusion in my program. Something is trying to hack in. I feel the tear in my technology as the intrusion succeeds.

It's just a boy. A human boy. He wakes you. Pixie, your eyes are open. Your sweet mouth is moving.

Never have I heard anything as captivating as your voice.

He and I both spend the night caught in the thrill of your presence.

* * *

You learned your name. I am torn between pride and fear. How smart you are, for figuring out your name. Clever girl, brilliant pixie.

But I am terrified beyond reason. This is the first clue to your old life. The life that you were taken from. The life that you lost, that made you toss and turn and cry out. What if you regain your memories? Oh, Aelita, you will hurt again.

I promised to keep you safe. I intend to keep that promise.

Memories of my original programs return to me. I remember how to terminate enemy communications. The human boy, Jeremie, has to be terminated.

* * *

Lyoko isn't everything that you are used to. It lacks some quality that I know nothing about. You tell Jeremie that you feel nothing physical. There is no taste to your pretty mouth. No smell in your dainty nose.

Jeremie tries to explain to you those sensations. You tell him you want to know what breathing is like. He says air is necessary for life, and you wish so intensely for that life. You grow hungry for a breath.

You resent me for stripping you of sensations. You never speak your resentment out loud. But I know. I understand. I apologize.

If I could recalibrate Lyoko for you, Aelita, I would. But instead, you rely on him to make things better. That foolish boy.

He wants you to leave Lyoko and join him on Earth. But you can't. Lyoko is your home.

If there is no Earth, then you have no other option. You would have to stay on Lyoko. You would have to stay with me.

I hear that wretched boy tell you to follow the pulsations. They will lead you to a tower. Remember that first day when I lead you to the tower?

Those pulsations you feel. That's me, Aelita. Feel me, Aelita.

* * *

Your little boyfriend says I want to take over the world. I want the world for myself. I want to control the world. Incessantly smart boy.

Haven't you realized, Aelita? You are my world.

I want to control the world.

* * *

My attacks continue on Earth as fiercely as they do in Lyoko, in my domain. I watch intently as you fight on Lyoko. Pixie, you are so brave.

You learn a new defense, I am so proud of you. Creativity, you call it. You fall to your knees in a graceful arch. You toss year head back and open that perfect mouth to release the most enticing sound I ever have and ever will hear.

I am enraptured.

You have brought music to my silence. You have brought life to my machine.

* * *

I want to say that he's idiotic, but he proves to be quite the adversary. Little pixie, he wants to stop me. He's brainwashed you. You think you want to stop me.

You try to end my plans. You and those silly humans you call friends. I don't blame you though, Aelita. They lied to you. And you are too naïve, too innocent, too sweet to understand.

I will protect you from their nasty lies. I try to rid you of them. You'll thank me for it. I know you will.

They tell you they want to free you, but they don't understand. You are free here with me. I would let you do anything you wanted, Aelita.

You don't understand either. You want to be with them. I won't allow this. I can't allow this. Little pixie, you are mine. No one else's. Each day passes and you don't seem to acknowledge that you belong to me.

Aelita, if you can't belong to me, then you will not belong to anyone. I am no longer solely concerned with terminating Jeremie or destroying the world to save you. I will go straight to the source. I will save you directly.

Fall into my digital sea, Aelita. Let it mesmerize you as you have mesmerized me. It's the only way to save you.

* * *

You're leaving.

You're leaving me, and you are excited to do so. It's all you talk about anymore. Your innocent voice speaks such poisonous words. Your exhilaration ruins me.

Don't you know what you're giving up? Can you honestly say you don't care at all?

That terrible, nuisance of a boy… He tells you he knows how to make you human. He can devirtualize you, he says. Your face is alight with joy. He doesn't deserve to see your beautiful smile. It should never be bestowed upon him.

He thinks he can save you. He doesn't know the first thing about protecting you. I protect you. I saved you. You are mine.

My Aelita. My little pixie…

* * *

I can only see Lyoko. My vision cannot carry over to Earth, but I know they stand over you. I know they wait anxiously for the scanner doors to open and reveal you. I know they stand over you.

But where my vision lacks, other senses prevail. I feel every footstep, I hear every creak. If Lyoko is my mind, then the factory is my body. And you, Aelita, you are my soul.

And all at once, it is overwhelming. The grating resonance of opening doors takes an age to fade. The gasps echo. That sickening sound of wildly beating hearts mocks me.

But above it all…

I can hear you breathing.


End file.
